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SAL1 Hickory Crawdads

Drive hangs on against Crawdads, 5-3

May 8, 2010 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Hickory Crawdads News Release


HICKORY, NC - The Greenville Drive jumped out early and held on late, defeating the Hickory Crawdads, 5-3, before 3,131 fans at L.P. Frans Stadium on Saturday. Hickory still holds the top spot in the Northern Division despite the loss.

Greenville (17-13) got on the board first in the second inning. LF Ronald Bermudez led the inning off against starter RHP Neil Ramirez (3-2, 6.35 ERA) with a double to center and moved up to third on a single by CF Reymond Fuentes. RF Jeremy Hazelbaker followed with an RBI single to right, scoring Bermudez and C Christian Vazquez hit a sac fly to center to bring in Fuentes for a 2-0 Drive lead.

Greenville added two more runs in the fifth when 1B Chris McGuiness hit his third homer of the season to right with DH Wildred Pichardo on at second, extending the Drive lead to 4-0.

After Drive RHP Pete Ruiz (4-1, 2.05 ERA) tossed five scoreless innings, the Crawdads (18-12) struck against reliever RHP Jeremiah Bayer. SS Leury Garcia led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a single to center, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on an RBI groundout by CF Miguel Velazquez. C Vinny DiFazio and 3B Matt West followed with back-to-back doubles down the left field line to pick up another run for the 'Dads to make it a 4-2 ball game.

Hickory kept coming back with a two-out rally in the eighth. After Velazquez ripped a one-out single, he promptly stole his way to second base and took third on a throwing error on the play. West then drew a walk to put runners on the corners. Bayer gave way to RHP Dennis Neuman, who relinquished a two-out RBI double to left by RF Ed Koncel, to put the Crawdads within a run, 4-3. 1B Mike Ortiz then drew a walk, loading the bases for pinch hitter INF Taylor Vail, who was transferred to Hickory from Extended Spring Training earlier in the day. Vail gave one a ride to right-center, but was robbed by CF Reymond Fuentes, who ran down the fly ball with a sprinting catch to keep Greenville ahead.

Greenville tacked on an insurance run in the top of the ninth against RHP Josh Lueke for the 5-3 winning score. The run is the first earned run allowed by Lueke in his 14.0 innings pitched this season.

Ramirez lasted five innings, giving up four runs on nine hits and two walks while striking out three for the loss. Ruiz picked up the win for the Drive, striking out three and walking four in his five scoreless innings. Neuman recorded the save.

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